Back when I was visiting Panda in DC in the summer, I came across some random interesting sights. Behold.

In case you forget what a crosswalk is for?

I never knew they had branded three-wheelers! This guy's riding in style, isn't he?

A building under renovation.

Up, up and away!

So many of my friends have a group from college, or even high school, that they still keep in touch with and hang out with.  A good portion of them also have some friends stemming from childhood as well.  I wonder what that’s like and if I’ll ever have lifelong friends.  The landscape of my life is so variable that dozens of friends have come and gone.  The people I spend much of my time with are only friends I’ve met in the past three years or so.  I’m so used to moving around and making new friends that it’s hard to imagine knowing someone for that long.

I’ve always hoped that each friendship would be one that would last forever, but as our lives changed, we would grow apart.  It also didn’t help that I moved a lot, so many friendships dwindled after not being able to hang out for a long period.  The internet has definitely helped to slow down the process of losing touch, but it still happens.  At this point, the only person in my life right now who I know will be around for decades is Panda.  He’s the best friend I’ve got and anyone else could very well be out of the picture in a few years.

I haven’t given up hope that I can maintain some long-lasting friendships though!  I think that business school will offer me a great chance to meet people who I can consider friends forever.  In addition, any and all future business partners will probably be great friends and a common interest in our business should keep us in contact for a long time to come.  I wish I had a group of close friends who all hung out with each other, but that’s just not the way my life developed.  Instead, I will continue to be a connector, bringing together my different sets of friends for gatherings and potentially facilitating some wonderful new bonds.

I’m not sure why, but I have had an aversion to following seasonal trends in the past couple of years.  I guess it’s because after reading so many articles about Christmas, New Year’s, or the like, I don’t want to be contributing to all that.  After all, how original could you get with that stuff?  Instead I prefer to enjoy the season, where people are hopefully making positive changes in their life as they look to family and re-evaluate their priorities.

This year I’ll be vacationing in China with my parents, which is a great way to spend the holidays.  It’s too bad Panda couldn’t be with me too, but we can do plenty of trips in future years.  I’m really looking forward to going back to China; it’s been 3 1/2 years and it will be nice to visit again.  You can be sure that around that time I won’t be writing about a tree and presents!  I’m sure I’ll have plenty of other wonderful things to write about and thank goodness for that!  If you want the same old holiday stuff, go watch some TV.  :-P

After over three years of inactivity, I am back to journal-keeping.  I’m picking up right here, right now, and hopefully will find the time to start filling in what I’ve missed out during this time.  It feels good to be writing again, even if it does hurt my hand a bit.  This habit was so much a part of my life for so long (13 years!).  I’m glad I have the time and the patience to do it again.  For awhile, I wasn’t sure if I would return to the art of putting pen to paper, so it’s encouraging that I have.  Unfortunately I’ve found that doing so has distracted me from blogging!  I guess I’ll have to start to learn how to manage my time between the two and differentiate what goes where.

Perhaps my journal-writing will evolve from the daily journal I’m used to into a more thoughtful, story-like weekly account of my life.  I think if I get too busy again, I will try to still keep up with my journal at least once or twice a week.  After all, with no notes to take at work and no other need to use a pen during my normal routine, it’s a welcome change to be physically writing so much again.  I always found it to be a really therapeutic thing to do.  I might even spend some quiet time writing on the flight to see Panda Friday night.  I remember one time I was on the plane writing so furiously fast that the guy next to me gave me a curious look.  It was a great moment of flow of consciousness that I had fun with.  I’m looking forward to more of those moments again.

Panda and I went to The Tech museum in San Jose, which had some cool interactive exhibits, like this one that took our picture, drew it out, carefully placed the pen back, and suctioned the paper over to the slot so we could take it with us.

Today is my “official” three-year anniversary with Panda! We kind of set an arbitrary date since it’s hard to say when exactly we got together. So, we go off our first real date, which was the Friday of Zero Week at UCLA. The great thing about that is our anniversary is always on a Friday!

Tonight we celebrated by going to Itacho Izakaya for dinner, then getting free dessert at Milk, right across the street! Milk is offering free ice cream sandwiches via ScoutMob. I got a Red Velvet and Panda got a Grasshopper (mint chocolate). Yum!

There was some sort of filming going on nearby. They blocked off the street and put up all kinds of holiday lighting to make it very festive and they had quite a crowd. Definitely not a low-budget film! Maybe we’ll recognize this scene in a movie we watch someday.

Ever get impatient with life? Sometimes I just want to get on to the next stage and get that MBA, finally live with Panda, and be married. I look forward to the future a lot and I’ve been anticipating it for years! At the same time, I know that life as it is now has its own perks and I shouldn’t lose sight of all that I have now. While I kind of want a fast-forward button to press, I still value all that I get to live out today.

Still, sometimes it’s nice to think about all these great future plans, isn’t it? This seems especially true as I start to see more and more of my peers moving on to the next stages of their lives, getting more education, settling down, and starting a family. Every now and then I can’t wait to go to business school and then move in with Panda and start our little family, kids, cats, and all. But I guess life comes as we’re easy and I’m definitely not ready to get marked or have kids yet, much as I look forward to when that part of my life comes.

For now I’ll try to take better advantage of the things I can do more easily now – explore my passions, travel some more, and maybe even move somewhere new!

Wow, it has been two tiring days on the road!  Philosopher and I set out on Thursday, ready for a coastal trip up to Northern California.  We made pit stops at the Getty Villa, Ojai, Santa Barbara, and Solvang before finding a campground in Santa Maria to settle in for the night.  The sleep was sporadic and interrupted by cars driving by, brisk air (it was in the low-mid 50s all night), and of course the uncomfortably firm ground.  Every time I tried to stretch out straight, I would find my blanket was covering my feet and it was way too to have them out.  So, reluctantly, I would pull them back in and curl up in a ball under my body pillow.

When getting things out of the car, I had accidentally locked my keys in the trunk (first time that happened to me!), so in the morning I called up AAA to break into my car for me.  It was really interesting to see their method, using an inflatable balloon pouch and a thick metal rod.  I didn’t quite imagine it being that way based on descriptions I’ve heard using clothes hangers, but hey, whatever works!  With access to all our stuff again, Philosopher and I were able to prepare for the long day ahead.

Day two consisted of a lot of winding roads, driving up and down mountains, and in and out of cloud/marine layer coverage.  I feel at once windblown and sunshone (yeah, yeah, not a term but what would you say?).  This time went from Santa Maria to Pismo Beach to San Luis Obispo, then out to the coast again to drive along the 1.  We took some time at Carmel-by-the-Sea to enjoy the town and beach, then continued on to Santa Cruz and finally San Jose.  While waiting for dinner at BJ’s and looking for another campground, we decided to go for more traditional lodging.  After all, we weren’t having much luck finding a place and it’s been a long two days without proper rest, so I don’t mind rewarding myself with a nice bed and shower.

Luckily, I was able to find the Larkspur Landing Hotel in Campbell, which was offering a really reasonable rate.  There’s free wifi, breakfast, cookies, and a business center, fitness center, and laundry room.  What’s most valuable is a warm and cozy bed, as well as a hot shower!  There’s no need to suffer and doing the whole camping thing another night was turning out to be too much trouble.  I can finally charge up my phone again and start tomorrow afresh.  By dinnertime, we will be meeting up with Panda and I’m really excited for that.  :)

One more day stands in the way between me and the long-awaited cat adoption!  I can’t wait.  I’ve tried not to overthink things this week, since many of the cats I saw last weekend looked like they were on the fast train to adoption.  The kittens in particular were very popular, of course, but I was happy to see that some of the more grown cats were getting a good amount of attention too.  I’m totally ready to spend all morning Saturday petting all the cats and also pairing them up to make sure they can get along with each other.

At first when my mom talked about getting an older one and younger one, I was thinking a baby and an older cat, but my mom is skeptical of the little ones since they are so small they could easily get hurt or lost under/in something.  While I really like them, I do know that they get adopted very easily, and part of the point of our adoption is to take ones that might get put down if not adopted soon enough.  I figure I can always go for a young little one when Panda and I start our own household, so I definitely want to pay more attention to the 1- and 2-year-olds.

I have a feeling both cats will probably be black or at least part black, since it seems those are the ones that aren’t as popular.  Is it a superstitious thing?  Are Americans really that prejudiced against black cats?  Or maybe there is some sort of personality trait that tends to do with those types of cats that makes them less friendly?  I did notice that my red tabby (orange stripey cat) was the friendliest of the ones we’ve had, and the black ones were more aloof and/or quirky.  But hey, quirky is still loveable!  And there were definitely plenty of cats who liked being pet, which is what I love to do.

Haha, I’ve been watching Millionaire Matchmaker and I just realized that the way I’m thinking about cats is very logical, with plenty of reasoning weighing into my decision, which is kind of like what the matchmaker does for her clients.  They come in with grandiose ideas of what type of person they can land, and she gives them a dollop of reality to whip them into shape and make them realize what is realistic and what is not.  I am open to giving up the kitten idea because it makes more sense of someone living my lifestyle and at my stage of life to focus on the more grown cats.  I don’t have time to baby a little creature, but I will have that opportunity in the future!

Rather than go for the “hottie pa-tottie” as they call them (aka the kittens), I will focus more towards the good fit.  I need cats that can take care of themselves, but enjoy my company when I am able to see them.  I just hope I don’t fall in love with a teeny little thing that looks at me adorably and fits into my hands so comfortably!  But hey, even if that happens, the good thing is we’ll still get a mature cat who can help with the duty of teaching the young one.